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RCMP allege PMO involvement in Mike Duffy Senate scandal

Scandal sure to dominate Question Period. But Prime Minister won't be in the Commons. He is visiting Lac-Megantic.

Mike Duffy even had his lawyer prepare “talking points” on why he was entitled to claim living expenses for his long-time Ottawa home, a ccording to court documents filed Wednesday. (Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS file photo)

A: It’s alleged Wright, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Duffy committed bribery, fraud on the government, and breach of trust offences, contrary to sections 119, 121 and 122 of the Criminal Code. The allegations revolve around Duffy’s demands in return for repayment of his expenses. “That agreement, to give and accept money in exchange for something to be done or omitted to be done, constitutes the bribery offence,” the document says. “They used their offices for a dishonest purpose, other than the public good.”

None of the allegations has been proven in court.

Q: Why did Wright ever try to strike a deal with Duffy?

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A: In the face of growing public furor over his housing claims, Duffy was steadfast that he was “entitled to his entitlements,” defying pressure from the PMO to pay back the money despite Wright’s increasing frustration. Duffy even had his lawyer prepare “talking points” on why he was entitled to claim living expenses for his long-time Ottawa home. “Mr. Wright’s objective was to get Senator Duffy to repay the money, and have him stop defending claims he was not entitled to, as it was affecting the reputation of the government,” the document states.

A: Wright stepped in, making the decision to “pay the cost of the debt himself out of his own personal finances.” But he was “beyond furious” after learning the total tab was $90,000 because Duffy had claimed meal allowances. “(Wright) was incensed that Senator Duffy was getting paid for meals that he ate in his own house in Ottawa,” the document states. The documents note that Wright himself never filed expense claims when working in the PMO, paying out of his own pocket for meals, flights and hotels. “He estimates he is out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars.”

Q: What were Duffy’s demands?

A: On Feb. 21, Duffy’s lawyer Janice Payne sent an email to Benjamin Perrin, then special adviser and legal counsel to the prime minister. She outlined five conditions. These included stopping the Deloitte audit of his expenses; confirming that Duffy met the Constitution’s residency requirements to represent P.E.I. in the Senate, ensure the Conservative caucus sticks to approved “media lines” when publicly discussing his case and “keep him whole on the repayment,” including his legal costs.

Duffy also asked for agreement that the matter not be referred to the RCMP. Wright refused this demand.

Q: What did the prime minister know about the deal or Wright’s decision to personally repay the expenses?

A: RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton says he has seen no evidence that Harper was “personally involved in the minutiae of those matters.” However, the documents do raise questions.

On Feb. 18, a memo from PMO staff to Harper provides some background to the prime minister about Duffy’s situation, and “on a plan for him to return money that he incorrectly collected.”

On Feb. 22, as the deal with Duffy’s lawyer was being brokered, Wright sends an email saying, “I do want to speak to the PM before everything is considered final.” Less than an hour later, he follows up with another email: “We are good to go from the PM.”

On May 14, Wright wrote in an email: “The PM knows, in broad terms only, that I personally assisted Duffy when I was getting him to agree to repay the expenses.”

Q: So who did know about the repayment?

A: Wright says he told four people that he personally repaid Duffy’s expenses: his own aide, David van Hemmen; Perrin, Chris Woodcock, director of issues management in the PMO; and Senator Irving Gerstein, who heads the Conservative Fund. The document says Gerstein claims he was “surprised” by Wright’s move to pay and he informed Conservative party lawyer Arthur Hamilton and Dan Hilton, the party’s executive director, but not the prime minister or other senators. And it appears from Wright’s email that Harper was briefed on some aspect of the deal to deal with Duffy’s expenses and gave his approval.

However, others were involved in the Duffy damage control, including Christopher Montgomery, who worked on issues management in the office of Sen. Marjory LeBreton, the government leader in the Senate at the time; former Harper spokesperson Andrew MacDougall; Ray Novak, now Harper’s chief of staff. As well, Conservative Senators LeBreton, Carolyn Stewart Olsen and David Tkachuk and Gerstein.

Q: What did Gerstein do?

A: Gerstein “confirmed” that party funds would be used to cover Duffy’s expenses when it was initially thought to be $32,000, plus interest. But he balked when the bill jumped to $90,000. However, the party did pay Duffy’s $13,560 legal bill. The PMO also asked Gerstein to talk to a contact at Deloitte, which was handling the review of Duffy’s expenses, to see if Duffy’s repayment would stop the audit.

Q: Why didn’t the Senate sub-committee find fault with Duffy’s expenses as it did with senators Patrick Brazeau, Mac Harb (Liberal) and later Pamela Wallin.

A: The Prime Minister’s Office used its influence to get Stewart Olsen, a former top aide to Harper, and Tkachuk and LeBreton to water down a committee report on Duffy’s expenses to “reflect wording that the PMO wanted.

The three senators deny they were influenced in any way by PMO to act in any way inappropriately. But investigators who interviewed the three raised questions about the fullness and accuracy of their statements to police, given email evidence to the contrary.

Q: What about the government’s claim there was no document related to the deal between Duffy and Wright?

A: Wright provided investigators with two binders of emails. A police search of computers within the Prime Minister’s Office and the Privy Council Office turned up 260,000 emails of possible relevance; out of those 2,600 emails have “possible evidentiary value.” The records reveal there was “considerable communication” within the PMO related to the Senate investigation of Duffy.

Q: Why was the Prime Minister’s Office so concerned?

A: The controversy was damaging. In one email, Wright wrote that they tackle the crisis “in a way that does not lead to the Chinese water torture of new facts in the public domain, that the PM does not want.” Later in the same Feb. 15 email, he writes about what is needed to “close out the Duffy situation . . . and stop our public agony.”

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